book publicist Archives

How to Work with a Publicist

Posted on June 1, 2021June 1, 2021 by Claire McKinney

I was scrolling through some searches today, looking for different topics I might cover in this week’s blog. I decided not to write about digital pr and marketing today. Instead, I am going to talk about relationships. Specifically, how to work with a publicist.

Don Hires a Publicist

Don is a first time author whose novel is being published by a small press. He hires a publicist because he wants to make a name for himself and sell books. He has a modest following on social media and he has contributed a few pieces to some small blogs. He has a day job that takes most of his time, and writing the book was challenging. Now that he knows he has a professional on his side, he is looking forward to making some money and hopefully signing a big publishing contract for the next book.

The Publicist understands that Don wants to get coverage for himself and his new book. He thinks the book is terrific and has had really good success getting blog reviews and some small publications to cover a first time author. Don agrees to a short contract for a review and interview campaign and The Publicist starts getting the word out.

Three months later, The Publicist has secured about a dozen hits on moderate level blogs and a review in an independent magazine. He also got a brief Q&A on Don’s college alma mater’s website. The Publicist was happy with the job, but Don was not.

Why Is Don Unhappy?

If I look back at the reasons why Don hired a publicist, it is clear why he is unhappy. He hired a publicist to “make a name for himself and sell books.” The Publicist heard that, and filed it away under “this is what every author wants, but everyone knows how this works”. Each entity went into this relationship blind, with notions about the process that were not based in reality.

To ensure that this doesn’t happen to you, here are some questions to ask a publicist that should help make your campaign a good experience.

10 Questions to Ask a Publicist

In an ideal world, what kind of results can I expect? What are some samples of coverage author like me receive?
What will I need to do to help you succeed at your job?
Will I make my money back?
How many books will I sell, approximately?
What services do you think I need?
What services will you be providing?
How long will it take?
Can we schedule a phone call a month from now to go over how my campaign is going?
Can I get my money back if I am not happy with the way things are going?
Do you complete any tasks that are open at the end of the contract?

10 Answers You Should Hear From a Publicist

These are some answers you might hear to questions you ask a publicist.

This answer is going to be book and author specific. The kind of coverage you get will vary based on what the book is about, your background and experience, where you live, who you know, etc.
This answer is also a bit specific, but at the very least the publicist will need a picture, a bio, a book jacket, a contact list from you if you have people who can help, and a copy of the manuscript or book for the publicist to read.
I can’t say for certain, but most authors do not earn back their marketing expenses on their first books.
Publicists do not sell books. Our job is to raise awareness of you and your book so that there are increasing opportunities for you to sell copies.
This answer is going to be based on the job itself.
This is going to be based on your budget and what the book needs
Whichever contract term you select should be ample time to meet the deliverables outlined by the publicist.
Yes, of course we like to have status meetings with our clients
There is a cancellation clause in the agreement. We can’t guarantee results, but we do not sell services that we do not feel we can provide effectively.
If there are any leads that require additional follow up, we will make sure to follow through.

For more information on hiring publicists check out our blogs, How Much Does a Publicist Cost? and Do You Know What a Book Publicist Does? (previously printed in Publishers Weekly magazine)

Publish, Release, Launch: Some of The What and When of Book Publishing

Posted on November 19, 2014July 27, 2017 by Claire McKinney

I will let you in on a secret: no one, not even the big publishers, know exactly when to publish a book. Yes, there are some givens, like making sure you are able to get into holiday and other promotions like Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. Then there are books by authors that consumers are trained to buy in a certain month based on its availability. I’m talking about Michael Connelly, James Patterson, and others who write at least one book per year.

I should also mention the reason a book is usually published on a certain date is because of marketing and publicity reasons. We try to get books out there when they will be featured most prominently and when the media are interested in what the titles and authors have to say.

For self-published authors I recommend that they publish the book as soon as it is ready. I call this a “soft publication.” Your “media date” or “hard publication” can be whenever you think the stars are going to align with media coverage and the success of your marketing—or when you think you can sell the most books!

I’m going to try to break down what the norms are in terms of publication months, but first I need to address some lingo that is tossed around and needs to be clarified.

Publication: This means that your book is on the market and available for sale via any and all distribution channels.

Release: This usually means the date that books are shipped from a distribution center to online and retail stores. However, I’ve seen it used interchangeably with “publication” but for some people it means something different. I’m not saying you are wrong for using the word, but knowing that there are other meanings out there might help clear up some confusion.

Launch: This term is a pet peeve of mine, because using this word implies there is some kind of event attached to the publication of your book. If you are a celebrity or famous person and/or your book has breaking news that is going to dictate an entire news cycle, then perhaps “launch” is a good word to use. But I caution people about calling publication a launch, because I think there are inherent expectations associated with using the word that can potentially be cause for disappointment.

* * *

Having said all of this, here are some monthly breakdowns that I have generally experienced as the accepted publication patterns:

January (Or “New Year, New You”)

Self-help; diet; inspirational; business—if you fit into this category, this is what the media are generally interested in, and it’s what consumers are thinking about.

February

Self-help associated with relationships; debut authors; business; fiction—if you are a debut author, this month is not as full of new titles and there may be more promotion and media opportunities for you as a result.

March

Debut authors; mysteries; fiction

April

Women’s fiction

May

Beach reads; women’s fiction; biographies; books on mountain climbing

June

More beach reads; women’s fiction; biographies or other non-fiction that will appeal to male readers on vacation or for Father’s Day

July

Quieter month better for debut authors; more of what you saw in June

August

Debut authors; education related titles; narrative non-fiction by lesser known writers

September

Public affairs and politics; serial authors in fiction and non-fiction; cooking; highly publicized titles by debut authors

October

More politics; cooking; big non-fiction titles by well-known personalities and writers; higher end photography books; art books

November

Photography; art; gift books; big names; and anything else you can think of that will sell in the current budget year

December

Good month for lesser known authors. A variety of books are published including late comers for Christmas or those titles that people want to get a jump on for January

* * *

You may notice that the categories are not always dictated firmly in one month or another—this is what I mean about the secret. In the end what everyone wants to do is get the book out there at the best possible moment. But you need to consider what you can control and what you can’t. After you make your best educated decision, you have to go with it and plan as if it will be the biggest “launch” you’ve ever seen! 😉

Do You Know What a Book Publicist Does?

Posted on February 9, 2013December 9, 2020 by Claire McKinney

Do you know what a book publicist does?

At lunch with publicist friends, there’s one question that we always seem to come back to: does anyone in this business know what we actually do? Yes, yes, every author says they “want” a publicist, but how many authors, and those who work in publishing, actually understand what a publicist does and, more importantly, what can reasonably be expected from their publicity campaign?

People in this business still assume that the only good thing a publicist does is book appearances on Oprah or The Today Show or Good Morning America. Even though this circuit is outdated—Oprah’s show is off the air, GMA is closing in on the Today show’s ratings, and The Early Show just went through another reorganization—people in publishing still think these are the rounds a publicist makes. This needs to change.

I came into the publishing industry accidentally, and took to the role of publicist quite naturally; I’ve been doing it for 15 years. I’ve worked on campaigns for everything from children’s books to adult trade; cookbooks to philosophy; literary fiction to self-help—and I’ll tell you, as I’ve told everyone who has ever worked for me and with me, making a book is a long, difficult process. Nonetheless, when there’s blame about how the final product fares in the market, it often seems to fall on the publicist. Why?

Why would an author take his frustrations out on the person most directly linked to the consumers in the promotional process? Why are the notions of what a publicist does so cloudy? And why, in an era where lack of publicity is repeatedly cited as a major reason books fail, are so many publicists with years of experience struggling to keep their jobs?

Blame it on the digital revolution. Blame it on the homogenized media culture.Blame it on whomever, or whatever, you choose. One problem, aside from the difficulty of getting good publicity for a book, is dealing with misunderstandings about what a publicist can reasonably do.

Right now there are still two overarching umbrellas that classify book publicity campaigns. There are the “big” books that are positioned and sold to the “big” traditional media, and there are all the other books which, well, aren’t sold to the “big” traditional media. And when I say this, I’m not saying all of the other books don’t warrant the same attention as the big books, or that they won’t get a national break, or that they are lesser in any way. I’m saying that, still, there are basically two tracks we think about, and that’s a problem.

That not every book will be right for the “big” media spots is one problem, but it’s a reality. Too often, though, there seems to be anger about not getting those “big” spots instead of an open admission that there are lots of great press hits to be had on smaller outlets and in nontraditional ways.

There are hundreds of television, print, and radio venues, just like the old days. But now there is the Web and there’s social media. You can do viral campaigns. You can give away content in the form of actual books on blogs, or digitally in chapters on any and all Web sites.Can you, the publicist, work with online marketing to coordinate a campaign using some of these tools? Yes. Do you need to know even more people than ever before, collecting contacts like a paper clip magnet? Yes. Will you be able to do this for every book on your list? Probably not. But it would help if these “nontraditional” campaigns stopped being tagged as such. Book publicity is no longer about organizing a “big” or “small” campaign, and publicists know this, but the rest of the industry does not seem to have quite caught up.

So if you are a book publicist like me and one of your more irascible authors is quoted in New York magazine basically saying that publicists are worthless, close your eyes, count to 10, and remember that you have the power and the skill set to go out there and brave a new frontier of media. You will do things that haven’t been done before, and while you accept the well-deserved pat on the back that so rarely comes your way, you can take comfort in the fact that others are quietly saying, “How did she do that?”

(This article was originally published in Publishers Weekly titled “Do You Know What a Book Publicist Does?” and online here.)

Tag: book publicist